Key Bindings for Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code lets you perform most tasks directly from the keyboard. This page lists out the default bindings (keyboard shortcuts) and describes how you can update them.

Note: If you visit this page on a Mac, you will see the key bindings for the Mac. If you visit using Windows or Linux, you will see the keys for that platform. If you need the key bindings for another platform, hover your mouse over the key you are interested in.

Keyboard Shortcuts editor

Visual Studio Code provides a rich and easy keyboard shortcuts editing experience using Keyboard Shortcuts editor. It lists all available commands with and without keybindings and you can easily change / remove / reset their keybindings using the available actions. It also has a search box on the top that helps you in finding commands or keybindings. You can open this editor by going to the menu under File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Most importantly, you can see keybindings according to your keyboard layout. For example, key binding Cmd+\ in US keyboard layout will be shown as Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Cmd+7 when layout is changed to German. The dialog to enter key binding will assign the correct and desired key binding as per your keyboard layout.

For doing more advanced keyboard shortcut customization, read Advanced Customization.

Keymap extensions

Keyboard shortcuts are vital to productivity and changing keyboarding habits can be tough. To help with this, File > Preferences > Migrate Keyboard Shortcuts from... shows you a list of popular keymap extensions. These extensions modify the VS Code shortcuts to match those of other editors so you don't need to learn new keyboard shortcuts. There is also a Keymaps category of extensions in the Marketplace.

Tip: Click on an extension tile above to read the description and reviews to decide which extension is best for you. See more in the Marketplace.

Keyboard Shortcuts Reference

We also have a printable version of these keyboard shortcuts. Help > Keyboard Shortcut Reference displays a condensed PDF version suitable for printing as an easy reference.

Below are links to the three platform-specific versions (US English keyboard):

Detecting keybinding conflicts

If you have many extensions installed or you have customized your keyboard shortcuts, you can sometimes have keybinding conflicts where the same keyboard shortcut is mapped to several commands. This can result in confusing behavior, especially if different keybindings are going in and out of scope as you move around the editor.

The Keyboard Shortcuts editor has a context menu command Show Same Keybindings, which will filter the keybindings based on a keyboard shortcut to display conflicts.

show keybinding conflicts menu

Pick a command with the keybinding you think is overloaded and you can see if multiple commands are defined, the source of the keybindings and when they are active.

show keybinding conflicts result

Troubleshooting keybindings

To troubleshoot keybindings problems, you can execute the command Developer: Toggle Keyboard Shortcuts Troubleshooting. This will activate logging of dispatched keyboard shortcuts and will open an output panel with the corresponding log file.

You can then press your desired keybinding and check what keyboard shortcut VS Code detects and what command is invoked.

For example, when pressing cmd+/ in a code editor on macOS, the logging output would be:

[KeybindingService]: / Received  keydown event - modifiers: [meta], code: MetaLeft, keyCode: 91, key: Meta
[KeybindingService]: | Converted keydown event - modifiers: [meta], code: MetaLeft, keyCode: 57 ('Meta')
[KeybindingService]: \ Keyboard event cannot be dispatched.
[KeybindingService]: / Received  keydown event - modifiers: [meta], code: Slash, keyCode: 191, key: /
[KeybindingService]: | Converted keydown event - modifiers: [meta], code: Slash, keyCode: 85 ('/')
[KeybindingService]: | Resolving meta+[Slash]
[KeybindingService]: \ From 2 keybinding entries, matched editor.action.commentLine, when: editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly, source: built-in.

The first keydown event is for the MetaLeft key (cmd) and cannot be dispatched. The second keydown event is for the Slash key (/) and is dispatched as meta+[Slash]. There were two keybinding entries mapped from meta+[Slash] and the one that matched was for the command editor.action.commentLine, which has the when condition editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly and is a built-in keybinding entry.

Viewing modified keybindings

You can view any user modified keyboard shortcuts in VS Code in the Keyboard Shortcuts editor with the Show User Keybindings command in the More Actions (...) menu. This applies the @source:user filter to the Keyboard Shortcuts editor (Source is 'User').

Default Keyboard Shortcuts

Advanced customization

All keyboard shortcuts in VS Code can be customized via the keybindings.json file.

  • To configure keyboard shortcuts through the JSON file, open Keyboard Shortcuts editor and select the Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON) button on the right of the editor title bar.
  • This will open your keybindings.json file where you can overwrite the Default Keyboard Shortcuts.

Open Keyboard Shortcuts JSON button

You can also open the keybindings.json file from the Command Palette (⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P)) with the Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON) command.

Keyboard rules

Each rule consists of:

  • a key that describes the pressed keys.
  • a command containing the identifier of the command to execute.
  • an optional when clause containing a boolean expression that will be evaluated depending on the current context.

Chords (two separate keypress actions) are described by separating the two keypresses with a space. For example, Ctrl+K Ctrl+C.

When a key is pressed:

  • the rules are evaluated from bottom to top.
  • the first rule that matches, both the key and in terms of when, is accepted.
  • no more rules are processed.
  • if a rule is found and has a command set, the command is executed.

The additional keybindings.json rules are appended at runtime to the bottom of the default rules, thus allowing them to overwrite the default rules. The keybindings.json file is watched by VS Code so editing it while VS Code is running will update the rules at runtime.

The keyboard shortcuts dispatching is done by analyzing a list of rules that are expressed in JSON. Here are some examples:

// Keybindings that are active when the focus is in the editor
{ "key": "home",            "command": "cursorHome",                  "when": "editorTextFocus" },
{ "key": "shift+home",      "command": "cursorHomeSelect",            "when": "editorTextFocus" },

// Keybindings that are complementary
{ "key": "f5",              "command": "workbench.action.debug.continue", "when": "inDebugMode" },
{ "key": "f5",              "command": "workbench.action.debug.start",    "when": "!inDebugMode" },

// Global keybindings
{ "key": "ctrl+f",          "command": "actions.find" },
{ "key": "alt+left",        "command": "workbench.action.navigateBack" },
{ "key": "alt+right",       "command": "workbench.action.navigateForward" },

// Global keybindings using chords (two separate keypress actions)
{ "key": "ctrl+k enter",    "command": "workbench.action.keepEditor" },
{ "key": "ctrl+k ctrl+w",   "command": "workbench.action.closeAllEditors" },

Accepted keys

The key is made up of modifiers and the key itself.

The following modifiers are accepted:

Platform Modifiers
macOS Ctrl+, Shift+, Alt+, Cmd+
Windows Ctrl+, Shift+, Alt+, Win+
Linux Ctrl+, Shift+, Alt+, Meta+

The following keys are accepted:

  • f1-f19, a-z, 0-9
  • `, -, =, [, ], \, ;, ', ,, ., /
  • left, up, right, down, pageup, pagedown, end, home
  • tab, enter, escape, space, backspace, delete
  • pausebreak, capslock, insert
  • numpad0-numpad9, numpad_multiply, numpad_add, numpad_separator
  • numpad_subtract, numpad_decimal, numpad_divide

Command arguments

You can invoke a command with arguments. This is useful if you often perform the same operation on a specific file or folder. You can add a custom keyboard shortcut to do exactly what you want.

The following is an example overriding the Enter key to print some text:

{
  "key": "enter",
  "command": "type",
  "args": { "text": "Hello World" },
  "when": "editorTextFocus"
}

The type command will receive {"text": "Hello World"} as its first argument and add "Hello World" to the file instead of producing the default command.

For more information on commands that take arguments, refer to Built-in Commands.

Running multiple commands

It is possible to create a keybinding that runs several other commands sequentially using the command runCommands.

  1. Run several commands without arguments: copy current line down, mark the current line as comment, move cursor to copied line
{
  "key": "ctrl+alt+c",
  "command": "runCommands",
  "args": {
    "commands": [
      "editor.action.copyLinesDownAction",
      "cursorUp",
      "editor.action.addCommentLine",
      "cursorDown"
    ]
  }
},
  1. It is also possible to pass arguments to commands: create a new untitled TypeScript file and insert a custom snippet
{
  "key": "ctrl+n",
  "command": "runCommands",
  "args": {
    "commands": [
      {
        "command": "workbench.action.files.newUntitledFile",
        "args": {
          "languageId": "typescript"
        }
      },
      {
        "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
        "args": {
          "langId": "typescript",
          "snippet": "class ${1:ClassName} {\n\tconstructor() {\n\t\t$0\n\t}\n}"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
},

Note that commands run by runCommands receive the value of "args" as the first argument. So in the example above, workbench.action.files.newUntitledFile receives {"languageId": "typescript" } as its first and only argument.

To pass several arguments, one needs to have "args" as an array:

{
  "key": "ctrl+shift+e",
  "command": "runCommands",
  "args": {
    "commands": [
      {
        // command invoked with 2 arguments: vscode.executeCommand("myCommand", "arg1", "arg2")
        "command": "myCommand",
        "args": ["arg1", "arg2"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

To pass an array as the first argument, one needs to wrap the array in another array: "args": [ [1, 2, 3] ].

Removing a specific key binding rule

You can write a key binding rule that targets the removal of a specific default key binding. With the keybindings.json, it was always possible to redefine all the key bindings of VS Code, but it can be difficult to make a small tweak, especially around overloaded keys, such as Tab or Escape. To remove a specific key binding, add a - to the command and the rule will be a removal rule.

Here is an example:

// In Default Keyboard Shortcuts
...
{ "key": "tab", "command": "tab", "when": ... },
{ "key": "tab", "command": "jumpToNextSnippetPlaceholder", "when": ... },
{ "key": "tab", "command": "acceptSelectedSuggestion", "when": ... },
...

// To remove the second rule, for example, add in keybindings.json:
{ "key": "tab", "command": "-jumpToNextSnippetPlaceholder" }

To override a specific key binding rule with an empty action, you can specify an empty command:

// To override and disable any `tab` keybinding, for example, add in keybindings.json:
{ "key": "tab", "command": "" }

Keyboard layouts

Note: This section relates only to key bindings, not to typing in the editor.

The keys above are string representations for virtual keys and do not necessarily relate to the produced character when they are pressed. More precisely:

  • Reference: Virtual-Key Codes (Windows)
  • tab for VK_TAB (0x09)
  • ; for VK_OEM_1 (0xBA)
  • = for VK_OEM_PLUS (0xBB)
  • , for VK_OEM_COMMA (0xBC)
  • - for VK_OEM_MINUS (0xBD)
  • . for VK_OEM_PERIOD (0xBE)
  • / for VK_OEM_2 (0xBF)
  • ` for VK_OEM_3 (0xC0)
  • [ for VK_OEM_4 (0xDB)
  • \ for VK_OEM_5 (0xDC)
  • ] for VK_OEM_6 (0xDD)
  • ' for VK_OEM_7 (0xDE)
  • etc.

Different keyboard layouts usually reposition the above virtual keys or change the characters produced when they are pressed. When using a different keyboard layout than the standard US, Visual Studio Code does the following:

All the key bindings are rendered in the UI using the current system's keyboard layout. For example, Split Editor when using a French (France) keyboard layout is now rendered as Ctrl+*:

render key binding

When editing keybindings.json, VS Code highlights misleading key bindings, those that are represented in the file with the character produced under the standard US keyboard layout, but that need pressing keys with different labels under the current system's keyboard layout. For example, here is how the Default Keyboard Shortcuts rules look like when using a French (France) keyboard layout:

keybindings.json guidance

There is also a widget that helps input the key binding rule when editing keybindings.json. To launch the Define Keybinding widget, press ⌘K ⌘K (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+K). The widget listens for key presses and renders the serialized JSON representation in the text box and below it, the keys that VS Code has detected under your current keyboard layout. Once you've typed the key combination you want, you can press Enter and a rule snippet will be inserted.

key binding widget

Note: On Linux, Visual Studio Code detects your current keyboard layout on start-up and then caches this information. For a good experience, we recommend restarting VS Code if you change your keyboard layout.

Keyboard layout-independent bindings

Using scan codes, it is possible to define keybindings which do not change with the change of the keyboard layout. For example:

{ "key": "cmd+[Slash]", "command": "editor.action.commentLine", "when": "editorTextFocus" }

Accepted scan codes:

  • [F1]-[F19], [KeyA]-[KeyZ], [Digit0]-[Digit9]
  • [Backquote], [Minus], [Equal], [BracketLeft], [BracketRight], [Backslash], [Semicolon], [Quote], [Comma], [Period], [Slash]
  • [ArrowLeft], [ArrowUp], [ArrowRight], [ArrowDown], [PageUp], [PageDown], [End], [Home]
  • [Tab], [Enter], [Escape], [Space], [Backspace], [Delete]
  • [Pause], [CapsLock], [Insert]
  • [Numpad0]-[Numpad9], [NumpadMultiply], [NumpadAdd], [NumpadComma]
  • [NumpadSubtract], [NumpadDecimal], [NumpadDivide]

when clause contexts

VS Code gives you fine control over when your key bindings are enabled through the optional when clause. If your key binding doesn't have a when clause, the key binding is globally available at all times. A when clause evaluates to either Boolean true or false for enabling key bindings.

VS Code sets various context keys and specific values depending on what elements are visible and active in the VS Code UI. For example, the built-in Start Debugging command has the keyboard shortcut F5, which is only enabled when there is an appropriate debugger available (context debuggersAvailable is true) and the editor isn't in debug mode (context inDebugMode is false):

Start Debugging when clause in the Keyboard Shorts editor

You can also view a keybinding's when clause directly in the Default Keybindings JSON (Preferences: Open Default Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)):

{ "key": "f5",  "command": "workbench.action.debug.start",
                   "when": "debuggersAvailable && !inDebugMode" },

Conditional operators

For when clause conditional expressions, the following conditional operators are useful for keybindings:

Operator Symbol Example
Equality == "editorLangId == typescript"
Inequality != "resourceExtname != .js"
Or || "isLinux||isWindows"
And && "textInputFocus && !editorReadonly"
Matches =~ "resourceScheme =~ /^untitled$|^file$/"

You can find the full list of when clause conditional operators in the when clause contexts reference.

Available contexts

You can find some of the available when clause contexts in the when clause context reference.

The list there isn't exhaustive and you can find other when clause contexts by searching and filtering in the Keyboard Shortcuts editor (Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts ) or reviewing the Default Keybindings JSON file (Preferences: Open Default Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)).

Custom keybindings for refactorings

The editor.action.codeAction command lets you configure keybindings for specific Refactorings (Code Actions). For example, the keybinding below triggers the Extract function refactoring Code Actions:

{
  "key": "ctrl+shift+r ctrl+e",
  "command": "editor.action.codeAction",
  "args": {
    "kind": "refactor.extract.function"
  }
}

This is covered in depth in the Refactoring topic where you can learn about different kinds of Code Actions and how to prioritize them in the case of multiple possible refactorings.

Default Keyboard Shortcuts

You can view all default keyboard shortcuts in VS Code in the Keyboard Shortcuts editor with the Show Default Keybindings command in the More Actions (...) menu. This applies the @source:default filter to the Keyboard Shortcuts editor (Source is 'Default').

Default Keyboard Shortcuts

You can view the default keyboard shortcuts as a JSON file using the command Preferences: Open Default Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON).

Note: The following keys are rendered assuming a standard US keyboard layout. If you use a different keyboard layout, please read below. You can view the currently active keyboard shortcuts in VS Code in the Command Palette (View -> Command Palette) or in the Keyboard Shortcuts editor (File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts).

Some commands included below do not have default keyboard shortcuts and so are displayed as unassigned but you can assign your own keybindings.

Basic Editing

Command Key Command id
Cut line (empty selection) ⌘X (Windows, Linux Ctrl+X) editor.action.clipboardCutAction
Copy line (empty selection) ⌘C (Windows, Linux Ctrl+C) editor.action.clipboardCopyAction
Paste ⌘V (Windows, Linux Ctrl+V) editor.action.clipboardPasteAction
Delete Line ⇧⌘K (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+K) editor.action.deleteLines
Insert Line Below ⌘Enter (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Enter) editor.action.insertLineAfter
Insert Line Above ⇧⌘Enter (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+Enter) editor.action.insertLineBefore
Move Line Down ⌥↓ (Windows, Linux Alt+Down) editor.action.moveLinesDownAction
Move Line Up ⌥↑ (Windows, Linux Alt+Up) editor.action.moveLinesUpAction
Copy Line Down ⇧⌥↓ (Windows Shift+Alt+Down, Linux Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Down) editor.action.copyLinesDownAction
Copy Line Up ⇧⌥↑ (Windows Shift+Alt+Up, Linux Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Up) editor.action.copyLinesUpAction
Undo ⌘Z (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Z) undo
Redo ⇧⌘Z (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Y) redo
Add Selection To Next Find Match ⌘D (Windows, Linux Ctrl+D) editor.action.addSelectionToNextFindMatch
Move Last Selection To Next Find Match ⌘K ⌘D (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+D) editor.action.moveSelectionToNextFindMatch
Undo last cursor operation ⌘U (Windows, Linux Ctrl+U) cursorUndo
Insert cursor at end of each line selected ⇧⌥I (Windows, Linux Shift+Alt+I) editor.action.insertCursorAtEndOfEachLineSelected
Select all occurrences of current selection ⇧⌘L (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+L) editor.action.selectHighlights
Select all occurrences of current word ⌘F2 (Windows, Linux Ctrl+F2) editor.action.changeAll
Select current line ⌘L (Windows, Linux Ctrl+L) expandLineSelection
Insert Cursor Below ⌥⌘↓ (Windows Ctrl+Alt+Down, Linux Shift+Alt+Down) editor.action.insertCursorBelow
Insert Cursor Above ⌥⌘↑ (Windows Ctrl+Alt+Up, Linux Shift+Alt+Up) editor.action.insertCursorAbove
Jump to matching bracket ⇧⌘\ (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+\) editor.action.jumpToBracket
Indent Line ⌘] (Windows, Linux Ctrl+]) editor.action.indentLines
Outdent Line ⌘[ (Windows, Linux Ctrl+[) editor.action.outdentLines
Go to Beginning of Line Home cursorHome
Go to End of Line End cursorEnd
Go to End of File ⌘↓ (Windows, Linux Ctrl+End) cursorBottom
Go to Beginning of File ⌘↑ (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Home) cursorTop
Scroll Line Down ⌃PageDown (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Down) scrollLineDown
Scroll Line Up ⌃PageUp (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Up) scrollLineUp
Scroll Page Down ⌘PageDown (Windows, Linux Alt+PageDown) scrollPageDown
Scroll Page Up ⌘PageUp (Windows, Linux Alt+PageUp) scrollPageUp
Fold (collapse) region ⌥⌘[ (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+[) editor.fold
Unfold (uncollapse) region ⌥⌘] (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+]) editor.unfold
Fold (collapse) all subregions ⌘K ⌘[ (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+[) editor.foldRecursively
Unfold (uncollapse) all subregions ⌘K ⌘] (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+]) editor.unfoldRecursively
Fold (collapse) all regions ⌘K ⌘0 (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+0) editor.foldAll
Unfold (uncollapse) all regions ⌘K ⌘J (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+J) editor.unfoldAll
Add Line Comment ⌘K ⌘C (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+C) editor.action.addCommentLine
Remove Line Comment ⌘K ⌘U (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+U) editor.action.removeCommentLine
Toggle Line Comment ⌘/ (Windows, Linux Ctrl+/) editor.action.commentLine
Toggle Block Comment ⇧⌥A (Windows Shift+Alt+A, Linux Ctrl+Shift+A) editor.action.blockComment
Find ⌘F (Windows, Linux Ctrl+F) actions.find
Replace ⌥⌘F (Windows, Linux Ctrl+H) editor.action.startFindReplaceAction
Find Next Enter editor.action.nextMatchFindAction
Find Previous ⇧Enter (Windows, Linux Shift+Enter) editor.action.previousMatchFindAction
Select All Occurrences of Find Match ⌥Enter (Windows, Linux Alt+Enter) editor.action.selectAllMatches
Toggle Find Case Sensitive ⌥⌘C (Windows, Linux Alt+C) toggleFindCaseSensitive
Toggle Find Regex ⌥⌘R (Windows, Linux Alt+R) toggleFindRegex
Toggle Find Whole Word ⌥⌘W (Windows, Linux Alt+W) toggleFindWholeWord
Toggle Use of Tab Key for Setting Focus ⌃⇧M (Windows, Linux Ctrl+M) editor.action.toggleTabFocusMode
Toggle Render Whitespace toggleRenderWhitespace
Toggle Word Wrap ⌥Z (Windows, Linux Alt+Z) editor.action.toggleWordWrap

Rich Languages Editing

Command Key Command id
Trigger Suggest ⌃Space (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Space) editor.action.triggerSuggest
Trigger Parameter Hints ⇧⌘Space (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+Space) editor.action.triggerParameterHints
Format Document ⇧⌥F (Windows Shift+Alt+F, Linux Ctrl+Shift+I) editor.action.formatDocument
Format Selection ⌘K ⌘F (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+F) editor.action.formatSelection
Go to Definition F12 editor.action.revealDefinition
Show Hover ⌘K ⌘I (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+I) editor.action.showHover
Peek Definition ⌥F12 (Windows Alt+F12, Linux Ctrl+Shift+F10) editor.action.peekDefinition
Open Definition to the Side ⌘K F12 (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K F12) editor.action.revealDefinitionAside
Quick Fix ⌘. (Windows, Linux Ctrl+.) editor.action.quickFix
Go to References ⇧F12 (Windows, Linux Shift+F12) editor.action.goToReferences
Rename Symbol F2 editor.action.rename
Replace with Next Value ⇧⌘. (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+.) editor.action.inPlaceReplace.down
Replace with Previous Value ⇧⌘, (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+,) editor.action.inPlaceReplace.up
Expand AST Selection ⌃⇧⌘→ (Windows, Linux Shift+Alt+Right) editor.action.smartSelect.expand
Shrink AST Selection ⌃⇧⌘← (Windows, Linux Shift+Alt+Left) editor.action.smartSelect.shrink
Trim Trailing Whitespace ⌘K ⌘X (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+X) editor.action.trimTrailingWhitespace
Change Language Mode ⌘K M (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K M) workbench.action.editor.changeLanguageMode

Navigation

Command Key Command id
Show All Symbols ⌘T (Windows, Linux Ctrl+T) workbench.action.showAllSymbols
Go to Line... ⌃G (Windows, Linux Ctrl+G) workbench.action.gotoLine
Go to File..., Quick Open ⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+P) workbench.action.quickOpen
Go to Symbol... ⇧⌘O (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+O) workbench.action.gotoSymbol
Show Problems ⇧⌘M (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+M) workbench.actions.view.problems
Go to Next Error or Warning F8 editor.action.marker.nextInFiles
Go to Previous Error or Warning ⇧F8 (Windows, Linux Shift+F8) editor.action.marker.prevInFiles
Show All Commands ⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P) or F1 workbench.action.showCommands
Navigate Editor Group History ⌃Tab (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Tab) workbench.action.quickOpenPreviousRecentlyUsedEditorInGroup
Go Back ⌃- (Windows Alt+Left, Linux Ctrl+Alt+-) workbench.action.navigateBack
Go back in Quick Input ⌃- (Windows Alt+Left, Linux Ctrl+Alt+-) workbench.action.quickInputBack
Go Forward ⌃⇧- (Windows Alt+Right, Linux Ctrl+Shift+-) workbench.action.navigateForward
Focus Breadcrumbs ⇧⌘; (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+;) breadcrumbs.focus
Focus and Select Breadcrumbs ⇧⌘. (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+.) breadcrumbs.focusAndSelect

Editor/Window Management

Command Key Command id
New Window ⇧⌘N (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+N) workbench.action.newWindow
Close Window ⌘W (Windows, Linux Alt+F4) workbench.action.closeWindow
Close Editor ⌘W (Windows Ctrl+F4, Linux Ctrl+W) workbench.action.closeActiveEditor
Close Folder ⌘K F (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K F) workbench.action.closeFolder
Cycle Between Editor Groups workbench.action.navigateEditorGroups
Split Editor ⌘\ (Windows, Linux Ctrl+\) workbench.action.splitEditor
Focus into First Editor Group ⌘1 (Windows, Linux Ctrl+1) workbench.action.focusFirstEditorGroup
Focus into Second Editor Group ⌘2 (Windows, Linux Ctrl+2) workbench.action.focusSecondEditorGroup
Focus into Third Editor Group ⌘3 (Windows, Linux Ctrl+3) workbench.action.focusThirdEditorGroup
Focus into Editor Group on the Left workbench.action.focusPreviousGroup
Focus into Editor Group on the Right workbench.action.focusNextGroup
Move Editor Left ⌘K ⇧⌘← (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+PageUp) workbench.action.moveEditorLeftInGroup
Move Editor Right ⌘K ⇧⌘→ (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+PageDown) workbench.action.moveEditorRightInGroup
Move Active Editor Group Left ⌘K ← (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Left) workbench.action.moveActiveEditorGroupLeft
Move Active Editor Group Right ⌘K → (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Right) workbench.action.moveActiveEditorGroupRight
Move Editor into Next Group ⌃⌘→ (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Alt+Right) workbench.action.moveEditorToNextGroup
Move Editor into Previous Group ⌃⌘← (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Alt+Left) workbench.action.moveEditorToPreviousGroup

File Management

Command Key Command id
New File ⌘N (Windows, Linux Ctrl+N) workbench.action.files.newUntitledFile
Open File... ⌘O (Windows, Linux Ctrl+O) workbench.action.files.openFile
Save ⌘S (Windows, Linux Ctrl+S) workbench.action.files.save
Save All ⌥⌘S (Windows Ctrl+K S, Linux ) saveAll
Save As... ⇧⌘S (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+S) workbench.action.files.saveAs
Close ⌘W (Windows Ctrl+F4, Linux Ctrl+W) workbench.action.closeActiveEditor
Close Others ⌥⌘T (Windows, Linux ) workbench.action.closeOtherEditors
Close Group ⌘K W (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K W) workbench.action.closeEditorsInGroup
Close Other Groups workbench.action.closeEditorsInOtherGroups
Close Group to Left workbench.action.closeEditorsToTheLeft
Close Group to Right workbench.action.closeEditorsToTheRight
Close All ⌘K ⌘W (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+W) workbench.action.closeAllEditors
Reopen Closed Editor ⇧⌘T (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+T) workbench.action.reopenClosedEditor
Keep Open ⌘K Enter (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Enter) workbench.action.keepEditor
Copy Path of Active File ⌘K P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K P) workbench.action.files.copyPathOfActiveFile
Reveal Active File in Windows ⌘K R (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K R) workbench.action.files.revealActiveFileInWindows
Show Opened File in New Window workbench.action.files.showOpenedFileInNewWindow
Compare Opened File With workbench.files.action.compareFileWith

Display

Command Key Command id
Toggle Full Screen ⌃⌘F (Windows, Linux F11) workbench.action.toggleFullScreen
Toggle Zen Mode ⌘K Z (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Z) workbench.action.toggleZenMode
Leave Zen Mode Escape Escape workbench.action.exitZenMode
Zoom in ⌘= (Windows, Linux Ctrl+=) workbench.action.zoomIn
Zoom out ⌘- (Windows, Linux Ctrl+-) workbench.action.zoomOut
Reset Zoom ⌘Numpad0 (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Numpad0) workbench.action.zoomReset
Toggle Sidebar Visibility ⌘B (Windows, Linux Ctrl+B) workbench.action.toggleSidebarVisibility
Show Explorer / Toggle Focus ⇧⌘E (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+E) workbench.view.explorer
Show Search ⇧⌘F (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+F) workbench.view.search
Show Source Control ⌃⇧G (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+G) workbench.view.scm
Show Run ⇧⌘D (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+D) workbench.view.debug
Show Extensions ⇧⌘X (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+X) workbench.view.extensions
Show Output ⇧⌘U (Windows Ctrl+Shift+U, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+H) workbench.action.output.toggleOutput
Quick Open View ⌃Q (Windows Ctrl+Q, Linux ) workbench.action.quickOpenView
Open New Command Prompt ⇧⌘C (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+C) workbench.action.terminal.openNativeConsole
Toggle Markdown Preview ⇧⌘V (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+V) markdown.showPreview
Open Preview to the Side ⌘K V (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K V) markdown.showPreviewToSide
Toggle Integrated Terminal ⌃` (Windows, Linux Ctrl+`) workbench.action.terminal.toggleTerminal
Command Key Command id
Show Search ⇧⌘F (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+F) workbench.view.search
Replace in Files ⇧⌘H (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+H) workbench.action.replaceInFiles
Toggle Match Case ⌥⌘C (Windows, Linux Alt+C) toggleSearchCaseSensitive
Toggle Match Whole Word ⌥⌘W (Windows, Linux Alt+W) toggleSearchWholeWord
Toggle Use Regular Expression ⌥⌘R (Windows, Linux Alt+R) toggleSearchRegex
Toggle Search Details ⇧⌘J (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+J) workbench.action.search.toggleQueryDetails
Focus Next Search Result F4 search.action.focusNextSearchResult
Focus Previous Search Result ⇧F4 (Windows, Linux Shift+F4) search.action.focusPreviousSearchResult
Show Next Search Term (Windows, Linux Down) history.showNext
Show Previous Search Term (Windows, Linux Up) history.showPrevious

Search Editor

Command Key Command id
Open Results In Editor ⌘Enter (Windows, Linux Alt+Enter) search.action.openInEditor
Focus Search Editor Input Escape search.action.focusQueryEditorWidget
Search Again ⇧⌘R (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+R) rerunSearchEditorSearch
Delete File Results ⇧⌘Backspace (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+Backspace) search.searchEditor.action.deleteFileResults

Preferences

Command Key Command id
Open Settings ⌘, (Windows, Linux Ctrl+,) workbench.action.openSettings
Open Workspace Settings workbench.action.openWorkspaceSettings
Open Keyboard Shortcuts ⌘K ⌘S (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+S) workbench.action.openGlobalKeybindings
Open User Snippets workbench.action.openSnippets
Select Color Theme ⌘K ⌘T (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K Ctrl+T) workbench.action.selectTheme
Configure Display Language workbench.action.configureLocale

Debug

Command Key Command id
Toggle Breakpoint F9 editor.debug.action.toggleBreakpoint
Start F5 workbench.action.debug.start
Continue F5 workbench.action.debug.continue
Start (without debugging) ⌃F5 (Windows, Linux Ctrl+F5) workbench.action.debug.run
Pause F6 workbench.action.debug.pause
Step Into F11 workbench.action.debug.stepInto

Tasks

Command Key Command id
Run Build Task ⇧⌘B (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+B) workbench.action.tasks.build
Run Test Task workbench.action.tasks.test

Extensions

Command Key Command id
Install Extension workbench.extensions.action.installExtension
Show Installed Extensions workbench.extensions.action.showInstalledExtensions
Show Outdated Extensions workbench.extensions.action.listOutdatedExtensions
Show Recommended Extensions workbench.extensions.action.showRecommendedExtensions
Show Popular Extensions workbench.extensions.action.showPopularExtensions
Update All Extensions workbench.extensions.action.updateAllExtensions

Next steps

Now that you know about our Key binding support, what's next...

  • Language Support - Our Good, Better, Best language grid to see what you can expect
  • Debugging - This is where VS Code really shines
  • Node.js - End to end Node.js scenario with a sample app

Common questions

How can I find out what command is bound to a specific key?

In the Keyboard Shortcut editor, you can filter on specific keystrokes to see which commands are bound to which keys. Below you can see that Ctrl+Shift+P is bound to Show All Commands to bring up the Command Palette.

Key bindings quick outline

How to add a key binding to an action, for example, add Ctrl+D to Delete Lines

Find a rule that triggers the action in the Default Keyboard Shortcuts and write a modified version of it in your keybindings.json file:

// Original, in Default Keyboard Shortcuts
{ "key": "ctrl+shift+k",          "command": "editor.action.deleteLines",
                                     "when": "editorTextFocus" },
// Modified, in User/keybindings.json, Ctrl+D now will also trigger this action
{ "key": "ctrl+d",                "command": "editor.action.deleteLines",
                                     "when": "editorTextFocus" },

How can I add a key binding for only certain file types?

Use the editorLangId context key in your when clause:

{ "key": "shift+alt+a",           "command": "editor.action.blockComment",
                                     "when": "editorTextFocus && editorLangId == csharp" },

I have modified my key bindings in keybindings.json; why don't they work?

The most common problem is a syntax error in the file. Otherwise, try removing the when clause or picking a different key. Unfortunately, at this point, it is a trial and error process.